Method of treating liquid egg material



June 13, 1939. M C` REYNOLDS. y 162,316

METHOD oF TREATINGYLIQUID EGG xkATERIAL Filed Jan. 28, 1935 im |l iiiiiiHllmililifilii lmllhullum Hullllii'llwlll,

1 um mlm IIN i wim-L Patented June 13, 1939 i I v l METHOD F TREAT'INGLIQUID EGG MATERIAL Marvin C. Reynolds, Chicago, Ill.; Lulu E; Reynoldsand First NationalBank of Chicago, executors of said Marvin C. Reynolds,deceased, assignors to The Emulsol Corporation, Chicago, Il l., acorporation of Illinois Application January 28, 1935, Serial No. 3,770

2 Claims. 4 (Cl. 99-210) My invention relates to the treatment of eggsof an improved method of and means for treatpreparatory to processingthem. It relates more ing liquid egg products.

ln particular to an improved method of and Another object is theprovision of an improved means for treating egg whites as a step in themethod for treating egg whites preparatory to B- process of drying them.drying them.v 5

In the industries `having to do with the prep- Other speciflc objectsand features of the inaration and use of products prepared from eggventon will be apparent as thedescription promeat (whichfmay be theyolks, whites, or mixed gresses. yolks and whites), manydiiferentprocesses have For the convenience oi those Skilled in the l0been employed and it has been found that comart, I show a sin'gle sheetof drawings illustratl0 paratively minor variations in the steps of aing the apparatus, and illustrating in part the process lwill have avery important resultupon process employed in my invention. thecharacter of the product' finally produced. I have discovered that ifegg whites be filtered My present invention relates to a treatment underpressure (preferably with arotary, positive adapted to be used onvarious types of egg prodaction pump) through a relatively `fine screenof ucts, but has its greatest utility and advantage relatively largearea, such liquid ege Whites will in the preparation of egg whitespreparatory to be substantially uniform. Further, when the egg dryingthem. The process will be described, whites, filtered in the mannerdescribed,are subtherefore, as it relates to work ,on egg whites. iectedto fermentation, a very large proportion It is,now well known that ifliquid egg whites will be affected by the bacteria and the propor- 2oare subjected to a controlled fermentation, in l21011 of relativelyheavy VSCOUS Substance Will the manner described in Patent No.1,818,212, for be extremely small, amounting to from 5% to example,improved results are imparted to the 8% only of the total product. Thedifference final dried product, particularly that the dried In theproduct may be understood by a reference egg whites, when hydrated, willhave better foamto actual operations. In a relatively large fer- 25 ingqualities and be superiorin other `nespeots. menting vat or tank inwhich a relativelyheavy I have found that egg whites'without'previousviscous product will comprise a layer of eight `treatment willv notferment uniformly. The rela.- or more inches at the top if the eggwhites are u tively more viscous portions will not be affecteduntreated, only opproXmaely two inches of the "all before the relativelythinner portions of the top Will comprise the relatively VSeollS.portion Whites have become over-fermented, and more When my improvedDroCeSS iS employed- Moreor less deteriorated. Indeed, almost one-thirdof '0l/er. the dry product Will be Superior when my the egg whites in afermentation tank orl vat will Process 1S employed. not only from theStendbe found to be affected only slightly b y the action Point' 0fbeating qualities and the like, but it of the bacterie, and this portionwin form e rei-- will be cleaner. more uniform, and of higher 55 ativelyheavy layer et the top of the tank. First grade generallvclass dried eggwhites cannot be produced with Referring 110W to the drawing, I ehoW aframe this relatively heavy portion and so there is an IIJ mounted onwheels II which will'permit the 40 appreciable loss if a high gradedried albumen entire -eSSembly to be moved at Will about an 40a is to beproduced. It has been assumed that if ege breaking and packing plant.The 'liquid this relatively heavy portion of the egg whites egg materialis delivered by suitable means to a were broken up, fermentation wouldtake place receptacle I2 having en arcuate Shaped bottom uniformlythroughout the entire mass and a. I3 so as to deliver all of the liquidYegg Product greater yield of a highgrade product would be to an outletpipe ,'I4. A screen I6 of relatively 45 obtained. For this reason, ithas been suggested heavy mesh is provided for removing any large that;the egg whites be ground in order tu propieces of foreign matter thatmay indtheir duce a uniformproduct. but I have found thatV way to thereceptacle I2. On a lower portion even grinding according to improvedpatented of the frame, I provide a positive acting rotary methods willnot produce the desired result, and type of pump I1. This is preferablya type-of 50 the egg whites will still contain a relatively large pumpknown as a Viking pump, well known in amount of substantially heavy andviscous prodthe industries. The pump is driven by a belt I8 uct afterthey have been subjected to controlled from an electric motor I9 orother suitable source fermentation. i of power. The pump receives thevliquid egg The object of my invention is the production materialthrough the pipe I4 and delivers the 55 liquid egg material through anexhaust port to a delivery pipe 2|.

On the upper portion of the frame I0, I mount a strainer apparatushaving a bottom 22, a cylindrical side wall 23 and a removable cover 24.A pair of cylindrical screens 26 and 21 are disposed axially of eachother and axially of the casing 23. These screens are sealed against thebottom 22 and at the top are sealed by the cover 24. Suitable means suchas gaskets are provided to afford a tight connection at the ends of thescreens, the screens however being readily removed when the cover 24 isopened, in order that they may be cleaned or replaced.

The pipe 2| is connected through inlet 28 to the interior of the innerscreen 26. The liquid egg material is forced under pressure throughscreen 26 and thence through screen 21, and is delivered toan outletpipe 29 threaded into a boss provided on the outside casing 23 of thescreen apparatus.4 A swivel joint 3| connects pipe 29 to a spout or pipe32, whereby the liquid egg material may be delivered readily to a vat ortank 33. I show the vat 33 in the form of a usual type of fermenting vatusually employed for fermenting egg whites before drying.

The screens 26 and 21 are not required to be of any particular mesh inorder to secure good results; but screen 26 is preferably of closer meshthan screen 21.

. ceptionally good results, however, if screen 26 has about twenty-livemeshes per inch and screen 21 has about forty meshes per inch. In actualoper ation, the apparatus functions best to produce the desired resultafter the screens have been operated long enough to accumulate a coatingof relatively heavy and large sized material which will not pass throughthe fine mesh. This condition occurs after only a very short operation,but thereafter the apparatus can be operated for a comparatively longperiod of time without apprecable increase in the coating on the screensand without causing a stoppage. The screen 26 continues to screen outand trap foreign materials such as small pieces of egg shells and thelike together with portions of the egg whites which are not readilybroken, up bypressure against the screen. The screen 21, therefore,receives a cleaner and much more subdivided product, but it also ltersout foreign material and insoluble portions of chalazae and the likewhich may have passed screeri 26.

I have found'that it is very important for the carrying out of myprocess to have ample screen surface. This not only permits theapparatus I have found that I secure ex,

to be run for a longer period of time without cleaning, but permits alsoof the building up of a mat on the screens, thereby improving thefiltering without undue increase of pressure.

In tank 33 I have indicated, more or less schematically, a batch ofliquid egg Whites on which the fermentation has been carried out so thatthe egg whites are ready to be dried. It will be noted that there isonly a relatively thin upper layer 34, whilethe bottom layer 3B of highgrade egg whites represents by far the major proportion of the product.All of the layer 36 can be dried to produce a very high grade driedalbumen, which can be marketed in ake or granular form. The upperportion 34, which is relatively much heavier land more viscous than thelower portion, can also be dried up. This is not of the high quality ofthe lower portion, but is of better quality than if the whites had notbeen treated.

It must not be assumed that my apparatus and process are applicable onlyto the treatment of liquid egg whites as a step in the drying thereof.

Egg yolks can be treated in the same manner and then processed in themanner described in Epstein Patent No. 1,730,879 and an improved saltyolk product is produced. Liquid whole eggs can also be processed in thesame manner, with the resfthat a much better mixture of yolks and whitesis obtained and the product will be superior in many respects toproducts processed without the use of my improved treatment.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent f the Unitedstates is:

1. The method of producing improved dried egg white of substantiallyuniform character and without substantial wastage which comprisesforcing liquid egg whites under pressure through a fine mesh screen,subjecting the resulting screened product to controlled fermentationwhereby substantially all of the liquid egg whites undergo uniformfermentation, and then drying the resulting fermented product.

2. The method of producng'improved dried egg white of substantiallyuniform character and without substantial wastage which comprisescontinuously withdrawing liquid egg whites from a container and into apositively acting rotary pump, delivering the egg whites under pressureof said pump through a relatively large area ne mesh screen, subjectingthe screened product to .v a controlled fermentation wherebysubstantially all of the liquid'egg whites undergo uniform fermentation,and then drying the resulting fermented product.

MARVIN C. REYNOLDS.

